Well, the desire for death came to me at a very young age so I needed later to come up with a reason to live despite the desire =p I figured it out around 12 or so and since then have always lived with goals with no end and completed any I could. This way I will always be satisfied with my life because there is nothing I just didn't have time for. I am perfectly happy with my accomplishments and always ready to die having lived a good life, which is a life I have enjoyed.

I'm not a non believer, I believe in the possibility of anything. I just don't let the actuality of something be determined by a 3rd party.

Tomatoes in January will be pretty sweet. Good luck on finishing the Greenhouse!

When I first considered death after I became an atheist I got rather depressed. Mainly because I had spent my whole life under the assumption that I would be immortal. That depression didn't last to long as I began to realize that the depression I was feeling was essentially the same as when I found out there was no Santa Claus. It didn't make the presents I received any less fun and death did not make the present any less important. If I had never been introduced to heaven/hell I would have never felt remorse for "losing" it (as much as you can lose something that does not exist). I am with you Zatamon. Thinking about it does not depress me. It only makes me enjoy what I have now more. In a way I will live on after my death as memories in my loved ones and friends and my children (first child expected in January along with your tomatoes) will go on to perpetuate a little bit of me in the gene pool.

“Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley

(15-08-2011 06:27 AM)Lilith Pride Wrote: Well, the desire for death came to me at a very young age so I needed later to come up with a reason to live despite the desire =p I figured it out around 12 or so and since then have always lived with goals with no end and completed any I could. This way I will always be satisfied with my life because there is nothing I just didn't have time for. I am perfectly happy with my accomplishments and always ready to die having lived a good life, which is a life I have enjoyed.

First I have to say that I'm very young. I don't really have the experience to talk about death, but I have my thougts and my ability to think free, to deal with death in different ways. When I'm facing to death I have to realize that it's an important part of Lifes meaning. I don't want to imagine me a world without death.

(15-08-2011 09:49 AM)TheBeardedDude Wrote: It didn't make the presents I received any less fun and death did not make the present any less important.

Sure, it hurts you to see friends dying, because you are the one who have to live without him while he's dead now. But if you will never go to die, you can't live. Every goal you reach will be meaningless, because you are not that good that you can improve forever. And isn't that life? To improve until you reach what you reach with your possibilities? All what you do after reaching your final goal is kind of a "Bonus" from destinity. Only death makes life life.

(15-08-2011 09:49 AM)TheBeardedDude Wrote: In a way I will live on after my death as memories in my loved ones and friends and my children (first child expected in January along with your tomatoes) will go on to perpetuate a little bit of me in the gene pool.

I agree totally. And that's my personal goal for my life. To stay alive, even when I'm dead. To be a positive part of Evolution.

(12-08-2011 06:20 PM)Zatamon Wrote: On death and dying -- food for thought for atheists

We all die some day. We don’t like to think about it and keep ourselves busy, starting projects with definite goals and completion timeframes and that gives us a feeling of permanence. We don’t look beyond the projected end-dates, this way we don’t have to think about the futility of it all.

Don’t take me wrong, I am not depressed or scared, I am only brutally honest with myself.

What intrigues me is that my death will be a unique event in the universe. It has never happened before and it will only happen once. The fact that billions of human beings have died during history and a lot more will, every day, is not really relevant. My death will still be a unique event.

In a way, when I die, the world will die too. My world. The only one that exists for me. The one that started when I was born and will end with me. All the stars will wink out, all the people, cities, buildings, mountains, oceans will be gone too. Cats, dogs, butterflies, squirrels, deer, raccoons, roses, sunflowers all disappear.

I was totally convinced about oblivion after a surgery. I remember the doctor talking to me and then, in an eye-blink, talking to me again – except that was 3 hours later. I had total oblivion for 3 hours. If that can happen for 3 hours, it can happen for eternity.

In view of the above, I find human causes and obsessions pretty silly. Why work ourselves up into a state, why get so excited about non-issues? Try to live, day by day, the best way we can, without hurting anyone, maximizing comfort and minimizing pain. It will be over soon.

Of course young people (which I am not) can not live like that, they need to believe in the future, they need to have goals and a feeling of progress, accomplishments. However, one word of caution: don’t live too much in the future: enjoy every second of your life in the present to the fullest because it will never come back. With every extra day you live, you have one less day left.

With this cheerful thought I will go back to building my greenhouse because I want to eat my own home-grown fresh tomatoes in January.

Curious if anyone has intriguing (as opposed to predictable) thoughts on the subject.

Beautiful post! I have to admit that sometimes I'm scared! I don't want to dissapear! Most of my family is gone. I have no children. It's the end of our name. And I am 50. So, with any luck, I have many years to live for death. My youngest brother was murdered. My favotite uncle died, drunk, in a fire. Each loss of a family member has hurt me. I long to see each loved one again. I struggle with this. It hurts me still! But I know that I have to learn to fish! I am a particle that will appear and vanish, as are we all. We have to collect smiles! We got to live folks! Brief, though it was, we got to breathe, grill burgers in our back yards, have sex, veg out, while watching movie after wonderful movie. We got to watch the world go 'round for a minute! Let's make it the coolest minute since the Big Bang!

(15-08-2011 06:27 AM)Lilith Pride Wrote: Well, the desire for death came to me at a very young age so I needed later to come up with a reason to live despite the desire =p I figured it out around 12 or so and since then have always lived with goals with no end and completed any I could. This way I will always be satisfied with my life because there is nothing I just didn't have time for. I am perfectly happy with my accomplishments and always ready to die having lived a good life, which is a life I have enjoyed.

I have no desire for death. In fact, I confesss to a fear of it. I just plain don't want to go! But it will happen to all of us. Your satisfaction with your life is (I think) what we must all strive for. We will vanish! Let's vanish after a happy life.